User blog:Ratigan6688/My Opinions on the Dreamwork Animated Films: Part 4
Okey dokey, this will be my last set of Dreamworks reviews until I get 8 films to cover this blog and move on the next when more come out and so on and so forth. This blog will over from Turbo until Boss Baby. Turbo I don't really know if I can call Turbo a really good or really bad movie. There some pretty decent things about it, but also a lot of other things that feel like there was little effort put into it. Let's look at the good stuff for now. I'd say the movie's biggest strength is its colors. Black snails, blue snails, purple snails, and so many more. It's like we're watching a movie with tiny little rain bows. Now sadly, I must talk about the things that make Turbo choppy and kind of weak. Turbo's relationship with the taco guy I feel is a little too much like Remy and Linguini's relationship from Ratatouille and too rushed. Then there's Turbo's brother Chet. He's not an awful character, but in the beginning he isn't very supportive of his own brother's dreams and his voice sound too cross and too whiney. In addition, the villain Guy Gasborne (I think that's his name) is unbelievably weak. He has little to no impact on the movie. All he does is scorn at Turbo and tries only once to stop him from winning the race. So I guess Turbo's level of likability or dislikability is really up for debate. I'd say my opinion is somewhere in the middle. Of course, I do give it credit for not having anything really stupid or mean. That would be Dreamworks' NEXT movie. Mr. Peabody and Sherman I watched a couple of Peabody and Sherman cartoons at my uncle's house when I was a kid and enjoyed the other segments of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. So naturally, I got excited for Mr. Peabody and Sherman. -Sigh- But when I finally saw it, I thought it stank! Not because it was different from the original cartoons, oh no no. Some of the time traveling stuff is loyal to the cartoons with the historical figures (expect the Egypt adventure which I thought was bad), Mr. Peabody's puns, and so on. So that stuff was loyal to the original cartoons while still being it's own thing. So what are my main problems with this movie? Two female characters-Penny Peterson and Ms. Grunion. Penny Peterson is a character whom I despise! I think Penny is too stupid, spoiled, and selfish! She bullies Sherman, takes advantage of him when using the WABAC, makes too many stupid choices, and even wants to marry King Tut just to get his wealth, ERG! One more example as to why I hate Penny is this; King Tut threatens to kill Mr. Peabody and Sherman for a wedding gift and Penny happily goes, "You'd do that for me?" I thought that was WAY too mean spirited! I know Penny does change her ways in the end, but I didn't even find her new friendship with Sherman that strong. And then there's Ms. Grunion, that crazy social worker. It's terrible enough that she's threatening to take Sherman away from Mr. Peabody, but what I hate about her even more is how she has implied that bullying is okay. For example, the principal tries to acknowledge that Penny bullied Sherman, but Ms. Grunion shut him up. Another instance is when Penny apologized to Sherman for what he did and that she never should have done it. Ms. Grunion says Penny has nothing to apologize for. Those two examples made me think Ms. Grunion was implying that bullying was okay! No, it's not! She's a professional who should know better! Why on earth would they do this in a family movie! And a lot of other parts include corny lines, stupid choices, mean judgement against Mr. Peabody and I-er, just RRRRG!!! I know, I know, I'm probably being too harsh on this movie. It just feels like there's a really good movie here! I really wanted to like it, but it hurts me everytime I think about it. Now, I will give this movie credit for having the historical figures come into the modern time. And to be fair, Penny did use George Washington (who started the feud in the first place) to save Mr. Peabody. I'm sorry to say, but I thought this movie was mostly awful. If you don't see the things I've complained about as problems, go ahead and enjoy Mr. Peabody and Sherman for yourself. But the more I think about Penny Peterson, the more I definitely want to skip this one! How To Train Your Dragon 2 Now this is more like it! I think How To Train Your Dragon 2 is even better than the first film. Like a good sequel, it progresses the characters, themes, and rediscovers more about the main characters' past. There is Dreamworks' classic tradition of reuniting the main character with a long-lost family member, and of course adding a new twist. Hiccup learns more secrets about dragons and deals with his inner conflict of being the new chief for his father while trying to be the peacekeeper he was in the first film. Astrid is a lot more likable character, having a wise and kind relationship with Hiccup and great at flying dragons in flights and fights. Then there's Drago the villain. Based on Stoick's shocked reaction and having to keep everyone in lockdown mode, he must have been a darker villain than I ever thought. Drago himself has a fearsome design, a sinister plot, and such an evil plan of using dragons to take over the world! Seeing that dragon fight for the position of Alpha dragon represented what alot of fearsome animals do! It was epic! And of course, like the first film there's all that computer animated detail on the dragons, landscapes, and the 3-D flight sequences. I don't know what else I can say. How To Train Your Dragon 2 is a really worthy sequel that is loyal to it's predecessor and adding on new materials that make it worth checking out. See it if you haven't already. Penguins of Madagascar Penguins of Madagascar isn't the most fantastic spin-off I've ever seen (in fact, I have yet to find one that I think is), but I liked it more than Puss In Boots. It pretty much represents the silliness of the penguins' dangerous missions and the comedy within.And that's all you need from this movie, and that's all it does. I actually liked Private the best of the group, and I'm glad the movie centered on his desire to find his rightful honor. The interactions with the North Wind agency gets plenty of laughs, particularly Skipper with Classified. Thinking Classified if the husky's actual name is funny. Dave the octopus is also a funny villain, particularly when he thinks he's got what he really wanted but then desires MORE revenge. And the plot itself is enough to keep viewers' interests. Not much else to say, but it's certainly worth sparing some time to view. Home I'm not really sure if I can say I like or hate Home. Sorta like Turbo, I have somewhat of an in-between opinion. I thought it was cute-ish, but also kinda pointless. Alien invasions are of course nothing new and the Boovs (is that what they are called?) thinking that they are helping the humans is weird. The relationship between girl and Oh was, er, ok. Typical, but not the greatest I guess. The leader, played by Steve Martin wasn't very bright stealing the egg from those scary looking robot aliens. Also, the ending with Oh returning the alien baby and revealing how they were cute little harmless beings was a nice cute misunderstanding. However, exactly like Chicken Little, I thought to myself, "Oh went through all those hardships for THAT little misunderstanding?" You've gotta be kidding me. I'd say the only thing that really stands out is Jim Parson's voice work os Oh. I love his work as Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, and I was really impressed to see him in an animated role. I'd like to see him do more of that. Also, the cat was cute. Overall, I'd say Home is an "eh'. Not the best, not the worst, see it for what is is. Kung Fu Panda 3 And now I've come to the 3rd entry of one of my favorite animated series of all time, Kung Fu Panda 3. As you may have guessed, I've gotten so excited to see this movie and it definetly didn't disappoint. Like Madagascar 2, I was afraid that the movie's conflict would involve Po being torn from the Valley of Peace and the Panda Village, with a war between then or something like that. Turned out-no! Li and the other pandas seemed impressed with Po as the Dragon Warrior and didn't show any grudges that I could recognize. Li did lie to Po about teaching chi, but he only did it to save Po from Kai as opposed to any hatred of non-panda life. The conflict was more about Po learning how to be a kung fu teacher and learning how to be himself. The pandas having to learn kung fu came in handy for that aspect of the story. And like the other two entries, there is a lot of comedy like with Po's dialogue, the other pandas, and even with the villain Kai. Li is a delightful father. He's not that strict prejudice father you see in most movies, he's actually a really fun and funny kind of guy. He stuffs his mouth full of dumplings and has panda asthma just like his son. Now you you where Po got those traits. Mr. Ping plays the best role yet in this one. He makes a franchise out of his son's career as Dragon Warrior, and he is comedically jealous of Li, but he apologizes to him later on and teaches him the importance of fatherhood. Kai is a really cool villain. Not only is he a dark spirit warrior, but he also has his share of comedic moments, particularly when he talks out of frustration through the jombies and when he is unhappy about no one knowing of him. Those green glowing eyes are probably his most fearsome looking trait. Like the other Kung Fu Panda films, Hans Zimmer has great epic music that mixes in with the film's epic theme. There's also the moral that speaks to me. It shows us that in order to teach, we don't need to try so hard to be something else, we just have to be us so that we are happy and able to teach...or something like that. I'm glad I saw it, and I can't wait to get my hands on a DVD copy of it. Trolls I have never played with the Trolls toys, so I didn't really have much knowledge on that fad. But that didn't came to my mind when Trolls was coming out. I wanted to see it as a stand-alone film. Obviously this is another one of those minimal fad Dreamworks films for me, but for what it is, it's really colorful. The idea of Bergens eating trolls just to be happy is er...a little bizarre. But what Poppy does for those Bergens to make them truly happy makes peace for everyone. Speaking of which, I'd say Poppy is probably what I like best about the film. She's funny, optimistic, hopeful, refuses to leave anyone harmed, and even has a good performance of Anna Kendrick. And of course for character development, you got Branch who is the polar opposite: pessimistic, gloomy, and a real stick in the mud. He represents the idea that you can't always be happy, but I don't think this film pulled off the message as strongly as Inside Out. There is also that gerden maid who serves as an homage to Cinderella. It also works because it leads to the little Bergen prince (voiced by the same guy who did Fishlegs) understand what happiness truly is. As for comedy, I'd say the funniest thing that made me laugh was that giraffe-like troll pooping out cupcakes (gross but funny). I'd say my only problem with this movie is all that pop-star music. I mean, it's not terrible, but that's always been the thing that downplays family friendly entertainment for "coll teen stuff". It just isn't my cup of tea. But overall, it's a pretty colorful cute kids movie. I'm not sure if will revive people's interests in the troll toy brand, but hey! You gotta give the studio credit for trying. If it seems interesting, check it out and see if you like it. Boss Baby A talking baby movie is weird. Ok, I'm just saying that right now. Everything about its premise is weird. And the movie itself is just as bizarre. I can see this as a cartoon short from Looney Tunes but...a movie?! This is seriously weird! And the story and characters are just as pathetic. It's like Dreamworks deliberately set this one up to fail. Now the idea that the kid adjusting to having a baby brother is understandable, but I think the idea of a babies apparently not getting as much love as puppies is WAY too stupid! I mean, the companies competing is kind of funny, but I thought that babies usually get more love than dogs! Infact, some dogs have to get put down for a baby's safety if it is too dangerous. This plot twist makes no sense. I didn't even get that many laughs-actually no laughs. Not even a chuckle. The characters are also rushed and forgettable. The animation is also really weird. And another thing-I saw the mom pregnant, yet I saw the taxi deliver Boss Baby-which one was real?! I'm sorry, but that's a serious problem! The only likable aspects of this movie were Alec Baldwin and Steve Buscemi's voice acting. But aside from that, nothing about this movie stood out at all. It wasn't funny, it wasn't creative, and it shows that Dreamworks isn't even trying. I can't think of anything awful or mean-spirited that I hate badly, but it's just...weird. Nowhere near the charm of their great works like Shrek or Kung Fu Panda. It just goes to show that Dreamworks definitely needs a diaper change of creativity. And those were my current reviews of the Dreamworks animated movies. I will add more when further ones come out, but I hope you enjoyed reading these blogs. I'm sure you have agreements or disagreements with my opinions, but that's okay. Take care and I'll see you later. Category:Inactive blogs